Holiday lineups (from the Great American Ball Park)

Happy Fourth to everybody. Thanks so much for tuning into the Journal on your holiday. We've got a little afternoon baseball here -- provided the rain can subside. Right now, Cincinnati is coated in gray; it's been raining all morning.

As for the baseball...

It got lost underneath the latest bullpen debacle yesterday, but it's worth noting the latest progress of Elijah Dukes. True, all month he has been hitting. But this week, his power has come to life. He now has three home runs in his last four games, and each has been an absolute sizzler -- hit with such a resounding crack that you'd know it was a homer even with your eyes closed.

This season, Dukes now has six home runs. (He had just one entering the game on June 20.) Now, his total trails only three teammates, two of them injured.

Zimmerman - 8
Milledge - 7
Belliard - 7
Dukes - 6

Can we safely say at this point that Elijah Dukes is the likeliest team leader in homers once it's all over?

Acta called Dukes "flat-out our biggest threat in our lineup," and added that "he's been the best hitter in our lineup for over a month now."